Peak Of Eloquence

Ali's sermon 1400 years back and the world today.... This man is totally flabbergasted by His intelligence!

Praise due to Allah whose worth can not be described... (A must Read)

A beautiful Sermon by our Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)'s cousin brother, Ali Ibn e Abu Talib (Peace Be Upon Him).

Batool Agha's Photography........

Looking at the seraphic sky, I was always compelled to think of the creator, the Creator of such a heavenly and irresistibly beautiful Sky. It proclaimed the beauty of his hands. Although we are "The Best Of His creations", yet at times it makes us contemplate Allah's magnificence and glory. 

Pondering over and over that how can something be this flawless? I realized that how can I  go into the depth of His existence, when I dont even know a part of myself. There we go, knowing oneself is the key to know your Lord.

Knowing the ultimate goal of your existence may seem difficult in the beginning, but once you get to know yourself you start to discover where did you go wrong in the first place. Once you start to rectify your deeds, you will feel closer to your Lord.

Lets not play this, Impress Them With What I am NOT ! game. There is a pressure with great impact, a pressure to live a life that is not our own. It's really easy to pretend what we are not, both inside and outside to fit in our society. But trust me that won't work if you really want to build a spiritual relationship with God. We live in a society whereby everybody, from a little kid to an old person, is wearing a mask. Let's throw these masks away and present our actual self before our Lord. 

Just give it a thought, think of the near future, when someone passes by your grave and reads what's written on the tombstone... The question is... Did you live your life or someone else's life? Did you come up to your expectations or someone else's expectations? Did you do justice to your self and your relationship with your Lord? Did you take the mask along? 

What does it truly mean to be a Professional?

      By definition, a professional is engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation. Is that a good enough definition? So as long as we earn a living off an activity, we're professionals?

      In business school, when we imagine a professional, at times our thoughts don't linger past the dressing. We imagine all executives in a suit, walking smart and conclude that they must be the professionals in their field.

     If we go as far as visiting an office of one for an assigned interview, we get wildly inspired by the fine furniture and the mounted certificate frames on the deep pained walls. I guess, it is for this reason we sometimes correlate a heavy fees with them, because we think they look it so they must be premium, and in turn what they must provide is a fulfilled promise.

    Sometimes, we hear our elders say, we will never know how terrible the world can be, how harsh its expectations from us can get. We may only relate those stories with the lives of those who work in non-executive environments. How can a corporate institution not have it perfect, like the shows we watch on Star World. After all, these look like a scene out of a movie.

  For those who work in the field, know what in practicality defines a professional and an executive. Sometimes an executive may be an amateur on his way to becoming a professional. In the real world, an executive will also have to be a professional to succeed. A professional is someone who makes it work, when the work has a deadline, they know how to have a thorough understanding of what is at hand well before that. They know how to get work done, and better still they know how to get work done, as required, better than required actually EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. 

   That is what sets an amateur apart from a professional. That is why to become a professional one needs to have invested 10,000 hours in their field of work, as pointed out in the book, The Outliers. It is this time that directs them to solutions. They have struggled and found elements that work and others that don't. They have known, in practicality, that not everything comes easy. They're not counting on the beginner's luck. They have a destiny to create and luck will only favor the prepared. So they are prepared.

   A client should get what he or she wants, every time. That is the rule, that is how businesses survive, grow and succeed ultimately.

  Another key difference, between an amateur and a professional will be this. The successful ones will not have to tell you who they are - their success will speak of them. The amateurs will  have to build on their skills till they become second nature to them.

All this being said, I personally think, what truly sets the two apart can be defined in no more than a word - one word: Voice.

  A professional's work will be about his Voice. An amateurs' work will simply be a compilation; whereas, a professionals will have a cause. He or she will know the subject matter, they will develop the art of understanding and indulging in the greater good. They will want to spread the voice, not keep it to themselves. We will always know a professional from an amateur when we observe who is insecure and who is willing to share with others all they know - so that everyone gains. The latter will always be a professional because he or she will know better than to save, they will know how to spread the light so it creates more light, a stronger more resolved voice.

  
So I hope, when we walk out of the doors of our universities, with a degree in our hands, we will work hard till we become empowering professionals who selflessly devote to provide nothing but the most exceptional. This ones to the reward perseverance holds for those who never give up.

Only in their dreams can men be truly free... Strive to find your own voice - Find a Mentor!

  Strolling down the memory lane, revisiting the facets of my childhood; I remember, I always have had this clutter that beclouded what I wanted to say; as a result, there was no intonation while delivering my thoughts. People misinterpreted what I usually said and would sometimes ignore my arguments. The melancholy was evident as I felt how I was being shunned by my mates. Being overlooked sometimes can feel distressing and this ransacked my thoughts.

 

  I had people in school and college, who would, impart knowledge and wisdom in such a way that I could absorb it, my teachers.  But somehow I never stumbled across someone who could righteously develop me as a subtle human being. Somebody who could enlighten me as a whole- my values, spirit and raison d'être. Somebody who could help me clear away the clutter, who could listen to me for hours and nurture my voice and build my self-confidence. I needed a Mentor…

  

   That being the case, I found myself in utter despair at emotional level. I could not find a way out, be that as it may, I never wanted to give up. Praying for a miracle to happen, I finally met my fairy god mother; strange though, but I always believed in fairy tales. She would listen to me for hours and encourage me to write my thoughts and then speak them up, even then if I would stutter, she forced me to paint them.

 Not only this built my self-confidence but also developed my critical thinking skills, hence forth, I started trusting my decision making and problem solving forte. I am now able to confidently deliver my thoughts without stammering. And in case, I don’t speak them up, I try to paint my credo. Likewise, I try to bring out the best in my students too, with my eventual aim that is their identity transformation.

Ultimately, we all need mentors, to unearth our highest potentials, to gain an edge that differentiates us from our peers and endure success in any capacity.